A good rule of thumb is, at the point in time when your plant can be lifted from the pot with root/soil mass congested enough to remain intact, it will benefit from repotting, which is a much more involved process than potting up. Repotting consists of teasing the old soil out of the root mass, pruning the largest and problem roots - often removing 1/3-1/2 of the roots, and repotting into fresh soil, which eliminates entirely any imitations imposed by root congestion. Potting up, on the other hand, is simply bumping the plant to the next size larger pot and filling the newly created void with soil. This practice ensures the limitations associated with root congestion and problem roots (circling, girdling, crossing, roots growing straight up or straight down, j-hooked roots) will impact the plant indefinitely - until someone actually gets their hands into the root system and makes the corrections. This holds even if the plant happens to later be planted out (outdoors in the landscape).

Root congestion begins to take a toll on growth rate, vitality, and often appearance at the point described above - when the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact. How long the plant is allowed to grow under those conditions is up to the grower. You CAN start cuttings from the original plant if you like and simply discard the original plant after the cuttings have struck, but you'll be far better off if you get into the habit of regularly repotting at appropriate intervals, especially when you get into growing plants it's hard to look at as expendable. I have trees that I've cared for for almost 40 years and I would be very saddened if I had to watch a steady but predictable decline to the point of no return.

YMMV, but that's the view from this perspective.

Al

Thanks AI. But not sure you have answered my question though. So according to the photo, so I need to repot?

No, its not needing it yet.

yes you need to move up at least one pot size.. soon ... while you can pull those roots back thru the pot holes without ripping them off .. though if you did.. its not really going to slow down a pathos ...

dont forget ..... or understand.. the most important thing in a pot is the media.. not the plant ...;. start with good media ...

media is a water management system.. engineered to accomplish such for the given plant in the given pot ...

moisten any bagged media before using it in a pot .. then pot the plant.. water it in.. and dont water again until the weight of the plastic pot reduces by half .. note how long that take.. might be a month.. and then make your own watering schedule based on what you learn in dealing with your new media.. in your pot.. in your house.. etc ...

if you have a fancy pot you want to use for it.. find a plastic pot that fits into it.. and use a pot in pot system .. just make sure both have drain holes ...

and this plant is incredibly easy to propagate... and once it starts getting a bit unwieldy.. you can give it a trim... and every piece you cut off will probably roots ...

have fun with your plant

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=pathos+propagation&iax=videos&ia=videos

Anna - you're the one to decide how long you'll allow the plant to grow under the limitations of root congestion, and it does make a VERY large difference - much greater than the average hobby grower realizes. I have seen hundreds of plants that were growing at only a tiny fraction (5%?) of their genetic potential for growth/vitality.

Lift the plant from the pot. IF the root/soil mass remains almost entirely intact with perhaps a crumb of media falling away from the mass here and there, it would benefit from a repot. To my way of thinking, that means it NEEDS a repot, but your view of things might be different than mine. There is no denying the fact that it would benefit to the degree of being conspicuous if you did repot, but what you do is up to you.

My job isn't to make up the mind of others. I provide information and reasoning enough to make a decision mildly uncomfortable unless you arrive at it by thinking. I think that's more helpful than simply giving directions.

One thing I will say though, you have on your hands the perfect opportunity to get a feel for the repotting routine; then, you'll be able to judge for yourself how much difference it makes.

If you have other questions, fire away. If not - good luck with your project.

Al